Some days the best course of action is chucking your meticulously crafted schedule into the compost bin and letting your day go with the flow. Certain people can not or will not conform to your timeline. Forcing them to comply is an exercise in futility, guaranteed to increase your level of frustration and mental anguish on top of your already over-taxed desire to accomplish your stated tasks. It requires a willingness to step away from the Pomodoro timer, carefully hide your endless To-Do list and allow others to take the reins.

I heard you gasp, yes, I did, but you have to know your team, trust they have received your message, and let go. I cope by indulging in an extra-long lunch break, ignore your text messages, refuse to respond to emails, and see what happens. The range of emotions yesterday was epic. They included irritation at my non-responsiveness, which quickly built to panic, followed by a storm of activity as everyone scrambled to complete what we slated to have finished two weeks ago. At that point, I decided I needed a nap. Then came the barrage of sheepish responses, saying they were done. Only then did I reply by forwarding the checklist I sent at the project’s inception.

They did a decent job, they found and fixed some of their oversights, and they learned a lesson. I hope. The good news is I channeled my unexpected time-off towards a conversation with my new protagonist.

No matter the challenges and the obstacles blocking my way, I maintain the item at the top of my list as a non-negotiable. Yesterday I wrote 362 (countable) words.

Did you write yesterday?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer